July 2020 marked the 10 year anniversary for my blog.

If you asked me a decade ago what I would be blogging about now my answer would be SEO. I never would have guessed it would shift to data science and data visualization topics.

To end this chaotic year on a high note I want to share the top 10 things I learned over the course of my career in search engine marketing. I hope someone will find this useful regardless of industry and tenure in their field.

  1. Listen: the most undervalued and underrated skill in the job market

  2. Bias for action: this keeps momentum going to find out what works or doesn’t work

  3. Deep work: learn how to focus because you do not need any more productivity hacks/tools

  4. Show don’t tell: always easier to convince others when the work is 70% completed

  5. Stay humble: never stop learning and always be the student

  6. Start small: stay scrappy to test things out even if it is not perfect

  7. Know what you are optimizing for: Time? Fame? Fortune?

  8. Be a storyteller: this inspires change in others

  9. A picture is worth a thousand words

  10. Life is a series of opportunity costs: you got to where you are today by not choosing hundreds of other perfectly viable options

I have been fortunate enough to meet a lot of amazing and helpful people along the way. My wish is that I can do the same for others.

Cheers to 2021 and beyond!